Week 5:365

July 25, 2009: Mike, Weston and I went to the Harbor to walk around and get some Chipotle! The walking nor the spicey food induced labor but Weston had a great time exploring the harbor with Daddy!

July 26, 2009: We went out to eat at Applebees on Sunday after church. Weston loves drinking out of big boy cups! I let him try to hold his cup on his own. He did alright before he tried to tip it up like his sippy cup.
July 27, 2009: After a hard day at work on Tuesday, Mike came home and crashed on the floor. Ginger, our cat, quickly jumped next to him to cuddle. She's such a daddy's girl!

July 28, 2009: Game Night at the Ferrante household. Of course this means Weston being cuddled by everyone before going to bed. Here he is trying to feed Kristin with his spoon.

July 29, 2009: This was the second rainbow appearance this week. I wasn't able to get Weston out for the first one, but here he is seeing his first rainbow. He was really excited about it.

July 30, 2009: On this day, I went in for an "emergency" appointment where I had to be monitored. They monitored baby's heart, movement, and contractions for 20 minutes. I was not in active labor or anything so they sent me home. :(


July 31, 2009: My sister came into town and we went to the mall to walk around, again, trying to induce labor. Weston thought the DDR was a lot of fun! Go Maryland!

Yet another appointment update

So I was supposed to go the doctors today but yesterday morning I woke up and had some pinkish discharge. I called the doctor and they had me come in for an appointment. Once I was there, they monitored contractions and fetal heart rate and movement for about 20 minutes. The heart rate and movement was great! I had only 2 contractions in the 20 minutes. So I was obviously not in active labor which I knew anyway. The doctor didn't seem concerned about the pinkish discharge, just said it could be normal because of the mucous plug coming out. I think she checked to make sure it wasn't amniotic fluid, which it wasn't. I was 3 cm dilated! Yay! And I had her strip my membrane again. I'm hoping this gets things really moving. (Also, I lost a pound). I started having contractions last night. They are painful and still about 6-7 minutes apart. I'm hoping they get closer together soon so I can go to the hospital and have this beautiful baby! Otherwise, I'm scheduled for another appointment next Tuesday. :)

Quick Note

I just wanted to put in a quick note about my last doctor's appointment. Everything is still looking good as far as heartbeat and baby stuff go. I didn't gain any weight again. I am dialated a full centimeter now and the doctor was able to strip my membrane a little. Hopefully that will help get things moving. If not, I go back to the doctor next Friday.

Week 4: 365

July 18, 2009: We took Weston for his first trip to DC! It was also my first trip to any of the museums down there. We went to the Holocaust Museum and then then the American History Museum. Here is Weston sitting on a buoy in the maritime exhibit.

July 19, 2009: Sunday afternoons are a chance for us to chill out as a family. Ms. Bobbie (my mother in law) came over for lunch after church. Weston wanted some blocks down at the bottom of his toy box so Nanna decided it would be fun to just put him in there so he could reach everything.

July 20, 2009: We took about 5 trips to Walmart this week. Here is a picture of one we took with Moo-Moo. (My mom)

July 21, 2009: Uncle Donnie stopped by for a visit and of course my little cuddle bug went right to him. I love this picture of Weston snuggling with his Uncle! (who will soon be our neighbors! Yay!)

July 22, 2009: We are still working on getting baby Grayson out so on Wednesday we took a walk around the block. Here is Weston sitting outside our backyard. I tried to get a picture of him in front of the flowers but he just wanted to play with them instead.

July 23, 2009: Normally Weston naps for about 2 hours in the morning. On this day he decided he only wanted to nap for about an hour, so I went and got him and brought him into bed with me. He fell right back to sleep all smushed up in mommy and daddy's blankets and pillows. I couldn't resist a picture!

July 24, 2009: Church shopping with Kristin. Michael's can be such a fun place!! :)

Week 3: 365

I'm so glad that I'm doing this project! I'm finding that now I look for fun things to do each day so that I can have exciting and memorable pictures! :) Here goes week 3!

July 11, 2009: We went to our Pastor's house for their granddaughters 2nd birthday. Weston got on the swing for the first time...he didn't like it so much!

July 12, 2009: On this day we had the Cobb's and Musson's over for dinner. They brought their adorable daughters Libi and Molly! The babies had so much fun together!

July 13, 2009: Nothing like morning finger painting! Weston really enjoys making a mess!

July 14, 2009: Mike, Weston and I took a walk to the grocery store on Tuesday evening. Here are Weston and me waiting while Mike ran into the Goodwill to check on a desk chair!

July 15, 2009: Weston really really enjoys bath time! Especially the being naked part! Here he is getting ready to get in with his beach toys! :)

July 16, 2009: Thursday nights at the Ferrante household is ladies night! Here is Adelle, Anna, Kristin and myself after an evening of watching So You Think You Can Dance?!!! I love my girls!


July 17, 2009: In an effort to get Grayson moving down and out..Mike, Weston and I walked to the park. Here is Mike and Weston getting ready to come down the twisty slide! Weston and Mike have so much fun together!!

Still pregnant...

You know it's funny how the doctor says "Don't get pregnant too soon after this one or you'll be at risk for pre-term labor" and now I'm pretty much farther along in this pregnancy than I was when I had Weston. This whole pregnancy I've been anticipating the early arrival of Grayson but it seems that he and God have other plans. So now....I'm learning patience. I really do want Grayson to get here, and yes I'm tired of being pregnant but really I need to look at this way...With Grayson still cooking I have time to relax, sleep the night through and sleep in since Weston's been sleeping in until around 10:00 a.m.

That being said, I had another doctor's appointment today. Didn't make any progress in the cervix area-still a little less than 1 cm dialated. She didn't mention if I was thinning out so not sure about that. Grayson's heartrate was in the 130's. Last week it was in the 150's so I guess he was a little more relaxed today. The results of my Group B Strep culture that they took last week came back and I'm negative this time around. That's a good thing because hopefully I won't be stuck in the delivery bed the whole time hooked up to an IV. I lost another pound this week. I don't know what's up with that but now my total weight gain is 19 pounds. I go back to the doctor next Thursday....so more updates then!

Week 2: 365

Week 2 of Project 365! Enjoy!

July 4, 2009: Weston all cuddled up after his first real swim. Surprisingly he stayed in the pool for more than a minute and seemed to enjoy it too!

July 5, 2009: I was out of commission this day-sick in bed, so no picture.... :(

July 6, 2009: Of course I was feeling better this day but Weston and Mike seemed to have come down with something similar to what I had so it was a sleepy day for them. Here they are cuddled up on the couch. So precious!

July 7, 2009: During Weston's 1 year doctor visit they asked if he could stack blocks. The answer was "no". So I got to thinking..."maybe he doesn't stack them because he doesn't have any..." So I went to Target and got him a really cute set and lo and behold...here he is stacking blocks for the first time!!! Quick learner!

July 8, 2009: Doctor's appointment for Grayson. This was the first that I would be checked as far as dialation and such. I was less than a cm but that's still progress!!!

July 9, 2009: I was cleaning like crazy this day to get the house ready for Grayson's arrival. Here I am trying to fold 3 loads of baby clothes with Weston "helping". What a good big brother! :)

July 10, 2009: Our college-aged group at church (which Mike oversees) had a bowling night. Here is Mike getting down with his bowling shoes on.... :)

Prenatal Update

I had another appointment yesterday. Everything is still looking good! Baby Grayson is going to be here so soon! So here's the run down of my appointment-
After practically being pushed onto the scale by the nurse, I find that I lost a pound instead of gaining anything in the past two weeks. This was due to the 24 hour bug I had I'm sure. My blood pressure still looks really good. They took a culture to check for Group B Strep. I was positive with Weston and probably will be again but I guess we'll find out for sure in the next couple days. I asked the doctor to check my cervix-almost a cm dialated, no effacement. Grayson's heart beat was in the 150's which is awesome! He's doing so well! I can't wait to meet him in the next 3 weeks sometime! I go back to the doctor next week so let's hope for more progress in the cervix area....haha! Later!

Week 1: 365

This is my first week of Project 365 so bare with me. I almost forgot a couple days but I promise the pictures will get better! :)

June 27, 2009: Weston's First Birthday Party! Here he is trying to give Mike kisses with cake all over his face. Precious.

June 28, 2009: After driving 3 hours to Ocean City, Weston was excited for Nanna and Big Pop to get there so we could get settled into the condo.


June 29, 2009: Weston's first time to the beach! Here is Mike and Weston getting ready to test the waters...Weston didn't like it very much.



June 30, 2009: Weston's Birthday! We took him to Assateague to see the wild horses. He was more concerned with us NOT putting him in the water but the horses were beautiful.

July 1, 2009: Back to work. At church, we're putting a new children's wing together. Here is Weston breaking in the newly installed highchair table.

July 2, 2009: 11:45 p.m. and forgot to take a picture today so here is my belly! It'll be nice to remember how big I was anyway. Grayson still has another 4 weeks in there!


July 3, 2009: After a fun game night, Mike and I getting ready to sleep! Again, I forgot to take a picture of the fun but oh well....I'll get better at this!

Dreams...

While I realize that sometimes a dream you have may mean nothing at all, I do believe that sometimes God gives us dreams for a specific purpose. That being said, let me recap a dream I had last night....

I was staying at my parents house with Weston. For some reason I don't believe that anyone was staying at the house with us. They were all packing to go somewhere. I'm sitting in the living room with Weston and all the sudden a snake comes across the floor and tries to attack us. I scream and panic, covering Weston for safety and run into my old bedroom where Weston's playpen is set up. I look up and there's another snake hanging from the ceiling. I go out of the room to look for my dad. I'm looking and looking and finally get his attention to come look for this snake. I practically have to beg him to believe me and help me kill the snakes. I realize that the snake that was on the ceiling has now fallen into the playpen with Weston who is trying to play with it. Thankfully he is not bitten and I kill this first snake (while still waiting for my dad to show up). I'm pleading with my dad again, assuring him that there IS another snake and I want to find it and kill it! I need my son to be safe! I look over and see the other snake (much bigger this time) slinking around. My brother Shane grabs the snake at the direction of my dad and proceeds to bite its head off in order to destroy it. Totally gruesome I know...

While normally I would think nothing of a dream like this, I have to believe that this dream definitely has some significance. I realize that the snake in this dream is representative of the snake in life that seeks to destroy us daily. That being said, let me retell this dream in the way I believe God is telling it to me. I'm at my Father's house...feeling alone spiritually. I feel the need to protect my loved ones in any way possible. I see that the devil is coming to attack and I do what I can to destroy it, meanwhile praying for God to help me. The first attack...I defeat on my own knowing my Father is coming to help. But there's a greater threat. One that is plotting to get alone with my children...seeking the opportunity to "play" with him more in his playpen. I'm pleading and pleading with the Father but I can't do it alone...I need my Brothers (and Sisters) in Christ to help me out in this one because the devil has come back bigger and badder this time! With the direction of the Father my family is able to defeat this beast. It is not pretty...it's a gruesome and disgusting defeat but finally, my family is safe.

I'm definitely awakened by this dream. I know that I am going to have a continual battle in this life to protect my family from the snakes of this world. I feel challenged to pray, and pray harder than ever before because a simple plead will not defeat the enemy alone. I need support!

Lord, Thank you for your insight and your new challenge for my life. I pray that daily I feel that challenge and get on my knees pleading for the salvation of my children. I know that the devil has a plan to seek, kill and destroy but my faith is bigger than that plan and I will do anything to destroy the SNAKE!!! Lord, I call on you for your guidance, your support and expertise on raising my children. I know they may try to "play" with snake at times and may even get bitten but father I rebuke the poison that may infest their blood and I speak healing over every bite! The devil CAN NOT and WILL NOT have my family!!! Lord, raise me up to be a mighty warrior, ready for every battle! Armed and dangerous against the enemy! As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord! There is no room for snakes here...I'm ready to exterminate!

Praise you!
Amen!

Catching Up

I had another prenatal visit on June 24th. Everything still looking good although I'm feeling so ready to have this baby! I gained another pound and I'm so proud of myself! :) Not that I'm trying to brag on the fact that I've only gained 20/21 pounds so far but I think God just knows me so well. If I had gained like 60 pounds it would a) really make me feel like crap about myself and b) not want to even bother trying to get all the weight off. Knowing that I will drop this weight pretty quickly gives me the motivation to get the rest off as well...you know that weight that had nothing to do with the baby but everything to do with lack of self-control and stress! It's going to happen and I can't wait!

In other news...Weston turned one this week. I can't believe how this past year flew! My little baby who could barely hold his own head up just one year ago has flourished into this independent determined toddler who struts around on his own two feet exploring the world! It's amazing. I love that boy so much! His birthday party was a blast! Going through the summer huge and pregnant pays off when you can give your child an awesome pool party every year for their birthday. Something I never had since my birthday is in March.

On Weston's actual birthday we were in Ocean City with my mother and father in law. It was so much fun! I really enjoy spending time with them. We went to Assateague and saw the wild ponies. Can I just tell you how much God's glorious splendor is in that! I'd never been before and was just totally amazed that these horses just roam the ocean shore. What a life!!!

Other craziness....we've been working hard at church to get the children's wing together for the launch of our new classrooms and such. It's hard work but it's definitely paying off. The rooms are looking awesome and I can't wait to see how God moves with this new move...I know he's going to grow this church into an awesome ministry for all types of family and I'm just so happy to be a part of the children's ministry and be able to watch children weekly learn about God's love!